Computer and communication technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, computer and communication technologies are involved in many aspects of a person's day. Computers commonly used include everything from hand-held computing devices to large multi-processor computer systems.
Computers are used in almost all aspects of business, industry and academic endeavors. More and more homes are using computers as well. The pervasiveness of computers has been accelerated by the increased use of computer networks, including the Internet. These computers are often interconnected to form a computer network. One or more servers may provide data and services for other client computers on a network. The client computers are often referred to as clients. A computer network may include hundreds or even thousands of clients.
Many content distribution networks (CDNs) provide media content (e.g. audio, video) streaming services to end users. Content providers desire their media content to be available to end users with minimal start-up and buffering delays and with a good overall quality of service. However, many prior art CDN systems do not provide the quality of service that users desire. For instance, users of some types of CDNs, due to limitations in bandwidth and implementation problems, experience unreliable streaming and low-quality media.